[.ca] Crystallography Made Crystal Clear: A Guide for Users of ... (ISBN 0125870728)

Updated for the e-century:
The second edition of Crystallography Made Crystal Clear contains many improvements over the first edition, especially regarding the introduction of new graphics technology available to everyone that can view this webpage on the internet. Rhodes especially explains how the PDB file works and how to view it to best suit the individual scientist's purpose. It is important to note that the book is still far from "crystal clear"! The portion of the book dealing with the physics of x-ray diffraction is very mysterious--definately dig out the old college physics textbook and read about diffraction when you find yourself confused. Also, the mathematics presented in the middle chapters of the book are way beyond the level that biochemists must deal with on a regular basis. An understanding of multi-variable calculus is important for these chapters. Overall, the book is a must-read for anyone interested in structural biology, with the exception of several chapters regarding the mathematics that can be skimmed over. And the webpage associated with the book is an excellent resource.

The best introduction to the subject:
This is the best introduction to crystallography I have ever come across. Which is quite an achievement, because its a difficult subject to understand. In crystallography, its very rare to find a book which does not deal with either a totally descriptive approach or a totally mathematical approach. Rhodes' book bridges the gap between the two and gives the reader the right dose of jargon and explanation. He illustrates every point with plenty of figures as well as real life computer models of proteins. Before I came across this book, I was struggling and failing to understand Isomorphous Replacement, MAD, Solvent Flattening, Maps and Models, as well as the iterative refining of models. I think no other book comes even close to this book in explaining all these concepts in simple format. This, I think is as clear as it can get without becoming oversimplified. A must have for all researchers and students whose work is even remotely connected to crystallography.

"The" clearest one out there....:
When it comes to this field of research, you get two types of references: (1) the 2-5 page quick intro that leaves you with the most basic overview of crystallography and (2) the 'hard core' books that go into such detail as to leave you breathless. This book is, in my opinion, the best transition book. For non-crystallographers, this book will teach enough about crystallography to allow you to read crystal structure articles and understand what is meant by all of the used statistics and such. For apprentice crystallographers, this is a wonderful intro into the field. Master the book, then move on to harder books to master it. Highly recommended. I still go back to it, when I teach people, to help me explain in the way that Gale Rhodes does!